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New additions to Sprockets Music Video Festival add context to cool content

The guts of this year’s Sprockets Music Video Festival, presented by Film Athens, are mostly identical to those past.

There’s the locals-only Georgia Music Video Show on Friday night at the 40 Watt, where videos from Dead Confederate, Powerkompany and more will be screened.

And then there’s the international component on Saturday night, pitting music videos for Europe, Asia and North America against each other in entertaining competition, also at the 40 Watt in downtown Athens.

These alone are killer events, with just shy of 30 videos in each program that are definitely not to be missed.

But Sprockets added a music video industry element to this year’s lineup, a bit of a creative colloquium for folks involved in the music video business, or interested in it deeply from a fan’s perspective.

“I’d like to see it be a combination between what they do at South By Southwest (in Austin, Texas) but just music videos. Just this industry. But also the feeling of Sundance, kind of a retreat,” said Sprockets director Danielle Robarge. “I want to grow to the point where the industry can come with workshops, speakers, etc.”

For now, though, two speakers are planned for the Melting Point on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m.

Stephen Pitalo, a historian currently chronicling the rise of music videos, speaks first. Pitalo has been interviewing MTV’s early veejays and the first bands to create music videos, Robarge said.

Adam Fairholm of the Internet Music Video Database will deliver a talk titled “Music Videos in the Digital World” beginning at 3 p.m.

Given that 29 out of 30 top videos streaming on YouTube are music videos, the genre is as important as ever.

“I think for anyone who is an Internet or music nerd, this will be pretty interesting,” Robarge said.

Those attending either night of Sprockets, be it Georgia or international, won’t have to wait to find out who the audience and judges picked as their favorite video. Winners will be announced shortly after the program has ended.

As for Sprockets’ continued sprawl, Robarge said she hopes each subsequent year brings more educational and informative events like this year’s speakers.

Athens has the talent, and the credibility, to be a player in the industry.

“Athens is putting out music videos as good as anywhere else in the world,” Robarge said. “The quality is as good as anywhere.”